(The Center Square) – North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein on Tuesday took a swipe at the Trump administration for moving too slowly on releasing federal funds for Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.

“We want to get as many of these dollars out as quickly as we can,” Stein told other state leaders Tuesday at the monthly Council of State meeting. “We desperately need the federal government to respond commensurate to the way it has responded to other major natural disasters in recent history in the United States. We’ve not gotten that yet.”

Although Congress appropriated disaster relief money late last year, some federal departments haven’t allocated those funds to the states, Stein added.

“We want to get these funds because when you get the funds, you can start spending the funds,” Stein said. “That’s exactly what we want to do is to help people get back on their feet. As quickly as possible.”

The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication of obtaining a response from the White House.

The state began its 27th week of recovery this past weekend. Estimates by Stein’s administration on damage in the state is up to or exceeding $60 billion.

Stein had praise however, for the North Carolina Legislature acting quickly this year to provide hurricane relief funds.

“I was really pleased that the first bill that came to my desk was the Hurricane Helene Relief Bill – $524 million,” Stein said. “Obviously this is just a drop in the bucket of the needs, but it’s enough for us to get started on a number of very important programs including the housing repair and reconstruction program.”

The governor said the goal is to have “hammers and nails” this summer.

“We’re going to work our tails off to make sure that happens,” Stein said. “We need people to go out there and do the work.”

The governor described a recent visit to Fairview.

“That community was absolutely the epicenter of the pain and suffering,” Stein said. “Of the 106 lives lost, 13 were in that community, 11 from one family.”

Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler thanked all the volunteers who have helped the state clean up after the devastating storm.

“This job is way too big for government and too expensive,” Troxler said. “But the response from the people, the nonprofits and faith-based organizations has been amazing. We’ve got to pick the pace up. Government can’t do it but the people can. If we stay at it, we will get this done.”

(The Center Square) – A Monday executive order from President Donald Trump seeks to establish a new government office to assist companies looking to invest more than $1 billion in growing their business in the U.S. 

Burdensome government regulations impede both domestic and foreign business expansion, according to the order, and the office, designated the “United States Investment Accelerator,” is meant to help with that.

“It is in the interest of the American people that the Federal Government dramatically expand its assistance to companies seeking to invest and build in the United States,” the order reads.

The office is to be housed within the Department of Commerce and will help investors of more than $1 billion “navigate… regulatory processes efficiently, reduce regulatory burdens” as much as possible and make “national resources” more accessible “where appropriate and consistent with applicable law.”

The order also stipulates the office is to “facilitate research collaborations with our national labs and work with state governments in all 50 states to reduce regulatory barriers to, and increase, domestic and foreign investment in the United States.”

The order also tasks the office with overseeing the CHIPS program established under President Joe Biden and “negotiating much better deals” than his administration. 

A number of companies have committed to a combined total of more than $3 trillion in American investment since Trump took office in January, including Apple for $500 billion and the world’s largest semiconductor chip manufacturer for $100 billion. 

Trump has said the administration has secured verbal commitments from others putting total private investment at $5 trillion “very soon.”

(The Center Square) – The city of Los Angeles could be on the hook for $270 million if the 2028 Olympics are not on budget. With the city already facing a $1 billion deficit and the state infamous for the ballooning $135 billion budget for its high speed rail program, many wonder if the city can handle the Olympic games.

L.A. famously turned a profit from its 1984 Olympics by minimizing new construction, and has sought to do so for the 2028 games. The latest plan for the “no build” games has moved some events to Oklahoma City — canoe slalom and softball — which could be an attempt to minimize local costs. 

L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia, who has been warning the city is “broke” since 2024, has pointed out difficulties the city may have in hosting the games, especially compared to Paris, which hosted the game in 2024.

“L.A. is the next Summer Olympics host city. Will we be ready?,” said Mejia on X. “Compared to Paris, Los Angeles has 2x the population, 10x the unsheltered population, 1/10 the transit ridership, ¼ the transit vehicles per million people, 3x the road deaths.” 

The city is on the hook for the first $270 million over budget the Olympics costs in excess of the approved $6.9 billion budget, with the state of California — which itself faces annual deficits rising to the tens of billions of dollars — taking the next tranche. 

In 2019, then-mayor Eric Garcetti said he expects the city to earn $1 billion in profit from the 2028 games. Not a single Summer Olympics has generated a profit since the 1984 L.A. Olympics, with games typically running billions of dollars over budget.